Seattle Sounders

Sounders aim for quick response against 'Quakes - May 16, 2014

Seattle, WA (SportsNetwork.com) - Seattle Sounders FC will be eyeing a quick return to the win column on Saturday when the club welcomes the San Jose Earthquakes to CenturyLink Field.

Seattle was the in-form team in MLS ahead of last weekend's visit to New England having won its last five games. But the Sounders left Foxborough with the worst defeat in club history, losing 5-0 to the Revs in a match that saw the team give up four goals in the first 41 minutes.

The Sounders were coming off of a midweek game against Dallas and had to fly across the country to face New England in a short week, although Brad Evans was in no mood to offer up any excuses after the loss.

"There's no excuse, we said we were ready to go and a couple of defensive lapses put us on the back foot and now all we can do is prepare for San Jose," Evans said.

The Sounders will be returning home, but Evans will not be part of those preparations as he is away with the United States national team ahead of the World Cup.

Along with Evans, Seattle will also be without Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin, who has started every game for the Sounders this season.

Dempsey leads Seattle with eight goals this year, but San Jose will also be without its top scorer, Chris Wondolowski, who is with the U.S. national team as well.

The Earthquakes back line also takes a hit due to international duties as both Victor Bernardez and Clarence Goodson will miss out on Saturday's match.

San Jose may be missing some key pieces, but the club is coming off of its second win of the season last weekend, holding off FC Dallas for a 2-1 win with 10 men.

Cordell Cato scored midway through the first half for San Jose, but the club had to play the second half with 10 men after a red card to Shea Salinas.

Despite playing with 10 men, San Jose went up 2-0 on an own goal from FCD's David Texeira before holding on for the win, which was simply an indication of the character of the team according to midfielder Sam Cronin.

"This match was a good show of character from the team," Cronin said. "It was difficult in the second half when we were down a man, but we were resilient. Our center backs and taller guys defend the box extremely well late in the match when they had chance after chance."